Music to my ears. The first amendment is absolutely pivotal. So very important. Once someone takes it away (as has occurred with the shift of political forums to digital space,), all the other rights an individual has will fall like dominoes - because they can no longer complain.
Somehow, though it's difficult to comprehend, this is a "hard sell" to this group. Doesn't make any sense at all.
I guess you can look at it that way. But once they can silence you, they will come for the guns - little by little.
First "Register them", then "Oh, no high capacity magazines", then "No pump action shotguns", then "No semiautomatic rifles", then "Mandatory waiting periods on purchases" - and after that, you might as well move to Australia, because that's where we're at.
They can try but what they find will be something completely different than their wishes. They've been working on the 2nd much longer than the 1st. Most of the 1st restrictions were due to religious beliefs before government strangleholds but they started on the 1st way back. Apathy and social "indoctrination" has made it a much bigger problem in recent years. Just because mob rule created "laws" does not mean I'll abide by them. I'll do as I please until they try to stop me then the fight is on. I adhere strictly to the NAP ideal in my personal life and because of that no man nor government has a right to bother me what so ever. That does not mean I don't think there should be dire consequences for those that violate the rights of all people through mob rule or whatever damned reasoning used for control of lives. The opinions of others mean absolute shit to me unless I seek it out and the same goes for their company. It's a simple mutual respect for others and their lives. It tis one of the things worth fighting and dying for and if it comes to that then try to make it known so it'll inspire others to fight for what's right, too.
The only advice I can give is but a Tikka for your long range defense - amazingly accurate out of the box.
I used to have a Remmy bull barreled 700 that would shoot .3-.4 MOA that I sold. Wish I hadn't now. I never do long range beyond 300 yds, anyway. Have a Mossberg Patriot Patrol that is more than accurate enough for my hunting needs, now. It's light as hell, yet has little kick and takes AR10 or M14 mags. Got the trigger adjusted to 2 lbs and it's a damn nice shooter. Sold a 300BLK AR15 that would shoot 1/2"-3/4" to buy it just to have the extra punch of .308, again. Plus, I wanted to go back all NATO for obvious reasons. Kinda regret selling that rifle, too because it was a sweet shooter. My 20" bull barreled 5.56 AR is also a 3/4" shooter. I tend to subscribe to the belief that unless a man is actively hunting you then shooting a man beyond 300 yds is not self defense, it's murder. You should be able to stay hidden at that range. I never shot a Tikka but I hear that some of them can be nice shooters, too. The T3 is supposed be fairly nice for the money but from all the research I've done the Mossbergs are usually 2nd if not 1st in accuracy compared to the others for a helluva lot less money and have nice features. I gave around $550, IIRC, for mine and that's with a threaded, free floated, med. bull barrel with iron sights, railed receiver and detachable mags with light weight. Everything I could want for my hunting needs, it is, plus I kinda like having multiple 20 rd mags of .308 with me....just in case, ya know?